Posted by natenoy on 3/26/2013 7:40:00 PM (view original):ash amd smokey, I posted a new thread in the theme leagues forum to continue this debate, sorry smokey I think the data fully supports ash on this one.

Sharing my starters is worthless since I'm using over 4600 minutes from my 5 bench guys (assuming none of them go exclusive this am). However, I have decided to give the 39% usage Kobe a try. Hs tov% is only 8.98% and Melo's is 9.37%. My theory is this: if your highest usage players have a low tov% then the team as a whole will have a reasonably low number of to's.

This team is built for the 39% usage low tov% of the 05-06 Kobe and since I had an OL team with the 61-62 Wilt give me over 50ppg, I will not be surprised if Kobe comes really close to or even exceeds 40ppg here. It will be interesting to see what my team efg ends up at, Kobe is only 49.1, but this team will have over 70 ast% almost the entire time he's on the floor and outside of Melo I'm stacked with 55-60% efg guys. I think Kobe will stay above 50 and the team will be in the 52-53 range. But of course the random divisions will decide a lot as well, just hope I don't end up with a bunch of teams built around defensive guards.

Bad news nate, I built two teams to do exactly that... I'm betting on both of them to fight it out for #1 perimeter defense. GL breaking 33% from downtown. NC's team will also make life on the wings difficult. Just say "NO" to 3pt'ers!!! lol

dh, I want NO part of D Wade in my division, also prefer to stay away from LBJ, MJ, and anything smokey drafted (my luck I'll get ALL of that in the division.)

I will say this though, each team's top Def G will be on Kobe, so for teams that have even one G on the court with a D under 50 the Stockon and his 60%+ efg will get an additional bonus, watch for his efg to be well over 60% for sure, and he will have something in the 14-16 apg range.

Posted by vancem on 3/25/2013 8:19:00 PM (view original):Okay ash were my final 2 pieces any good? I like Evans 11 usage to start the game to make sure that Durant, Marion, and Gasol take as many shots as possible. Evans defense is horrible but his rebounding is excellent and it was needed esspecially offensively. Lawson and Humphries add offensive punch, 2 usage points a piece, off the bench along with rebounding and pretty good EFG% at 55% and 52% respectively, and low negative numbers. Plus, with my backup plan I'm at 19,500 minutes so the team shouldn't run out of gas at the end of the season like dh555's did last season LOL.

Evans was fantastic. He helps make up some of the weakness on the boards that Gasol brings. I like many of his seasons, so he's also a safe flex pick.

I really like Lawson as well. Your team is a serious contender in my mind.

Note that I don't do grades or full evals. They aren't required in the ODL of the champion, and hell, I didn't even play in the previous one! But if anybody wants specific commentary on their full drafted roster, just say so and I"ll oblige (it will be easier if you list what versions you're using or at least tell me all of your picks since page1 hasn't been updated for round 6 at all).

ash, I'll sm you my list which includes 4500+ minutes of undrafted guys. I would really appreciate your take. Sorry for being a douche to you in the past man, it took me a good 9 months and a lot of statistics to realize you really do know what you are talking about around here. I have a lot of respect for the likes of you, vance, dh, tar, nc, gin and many others as well, but it takes a while to figure out who knows thier **** and who is a tool, and it's much more enjoyable to spend my time and money here when we all get along.

While the 96-97 Mailman is definitely an amazing player in the sim, I prefer the 89-90. More efg%, way more trips to the line... but also he brings with him way more turnovers and fouls, so it's kind of like 6 of one, half dozen of the other. The big thing is the minutes... more minutes of the guy you focus your offense around is always a good idea.

Possession Battle: Solid rebounding. You don't have "that guy" to clean the boards but do have a nice aggregate total. That'll keep you competitive. Turnovers are kinda meh... not anything extreme one way or the other. You'll get some steals. Overall, I call it a wash.

Shooting Struggle: Defense is fine. Mailman, Parish & Harden all give you good stuff offensively. I don't care for Iggy that much but he doesn't hurt you too much. Oakley's usage is a little high to be optimal but I still dig it. Plenty of assists... you should be solid in the shooting struggle.

Foul Factor: Not the best Mailman at getting to the line... still, he's not bad at all. Harden gets there a ton for his usage. Reasonably low fouls with a good amount of trips to the line... good. You don't have much inside/outside extremes to really put the defense in a pinch, however, so I don't think you're really gaining a big advantage here, either.

Overall, you're not hurting in any of the three areas I think most important, but you're not dominating, either. It's a solid squad. This team could win 30 games or 50 games and I wouldn't be surprised.

At first glance, I think... what a mess. Then I begin to really look into all the pieces of the puzzle and see that you've actually built a very effective Kobe team.

Shooting Struggle: As I've said before, I'm just not a fan of the high volume, average efg% scorer. However, it does afford you some advantages and you're absolutely using many of them. Firstly, you've got solid ast% to bump up Kobe's shooting percentage. Secondly... every single other player on the team (minus Kobe's backup) gives you good shooting percentages... meaning that when Kobe isn't chucking up duds, they're going to give you some easy points. The team is a very, very good defensive squad which you absolutely HAVE to do when building around an average shooter like Kobe. I think you'll have some trouble against some of the extreme efg% squads, but I think they'll have some trouble against you as well. I'd say you have a good competitive advantage in the SS.

Possession Battle: Having your high usage guy be extremely efficient when it comes to turning the ball over is a very, very good thing. This severely dampens the impact of the other players' medium to high tov%. You also have some thieves on the squad, which should help you with the turnover battle even more. I'd say there's a good chance you'll average less turnovers than your opponent, which coupled with your aggregate rebounding, gives you a competitive advantage in the PB.

Foul Factor: You're going to foul. A lot. Kobe will get some opponents into foul trouble, but his fta/poss ratio isn't that high to be honest. Not a lot of inside/outside contrast going on, either. I'd say that you're a wash in the FF while leaning towards being on the bad end of it.

All in all, this is a well built squad that, when working properly, should stay in most games and come out on top in many of them. The foul situation is a concern. I'd probably give you a nod in many playoff matchups, but if you end up against a team like nc7s (Barkley + Billups is one of the most powerful combos if not the most powerful present in this league), a lot of your competitive advantages go away. I'd be really surprised to see this team finish under .500, but I don't have a ton of confidence in the playoffs. That lies mostly with the fact that I've been burned by Kobe (and other) high volume scorers before. Occasionally they go off in a good way at the right time for you... and when that happens, you can't be stopped... but I think you've got enough good shooters surrounding him that a few 13/39 games won't kill you too bad. Just hope that you don't hit 4 in a row.

Oh and while I'm giving out props, eleibowitz knows that he taught me more than anyone else on the sim, I'd likely be one of those guys lucky to hit .500 in a draft league without the things he shared with me personally, thx again.